Eric Seibel Hot Topics presentation: Scanning Fiber Endoscopy -- Multimodes of Guided Intervention

In this Hot Topics presentation,Eric Seibel discusses his team's work using a scanning-fiber endoscope (SFE) to provide high-contrast imaging. The instrument consists of red-green-blue illumination sources coupled into a single-mode fiber optic that can be scanned in 2D using a piezoelectric tube as an actuator. The output end of the device consists of a quartz cantilever, an asphere lens, and fluorescence detectors coupling high-resolution spectral imaging with a long depth of focus.

Compared to current state-of-the-art instruments such as a tethered capsule endoscope with outer diameters on the order of 6mm, the SFE has an outer diameter of only 1.2mm making it suitable for procedures in small ducts and the cardiovascular system. Seibel discusses using the instrument for improving biopsy procedures and diagnostics as well as in stent deployment.

Seibel received undergraduate and master degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and University of California, Berkeley, respectively. After working four years in the medical (ophthalmic) device industry, he designed and developed laser-scanning microscopes for live-tissue imaging for his doctorate from the University of Washington (UW) Department of Bioengineering in 1996. As a Research Scientist at the UW Human Interface Technology Lab, Seibel invented the scanning-fiber endoscope, which has received funding from WTC, NIH (NCI & NIBIB), NSF, and PENTAX (HOYA Corporation). Since 2001 as research faculty at UW, he has co-developed an optical-projection-tomography microscope with VisionGate Inc. with funding from WTC and NCI. Currently, Seibel is a Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, adjunct in Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering, and Director of the Human Photonics Lab at UW.